Three rightwingers were sentenced on Tuesday in the Bloemfontein Regional Court to prison terms ranging from five to eight years for plotting to blow up the Vaal Dam.
Regional Court President WA de Klerk sentenced Leon Peacock and Hercules Viljoen to eight years in prison, of which three years were suspended. Alan Rautenbach was sentenced to five years, of which three years were also suspended.
Peacock was in addition fined R1 000 or 30 days in prison, as well as a further three years in prison for the illegal possession of weapons and ammunition.
He was to serve one year of this sentence concurrently with his eight-year term, with the rest suspended. De Klerk denied a request by state prosecutor Sophie Georgi that all three men be declared unfit to own firearms.
Peacock, leader of the trio, said afterwards their sentences were ”a bit harsh”.
They only stood for ”the upholding of the rights of all peoples”, he told journalists at the court.
They were arrested in March 2002, shortly before they were to carry out their plan to blow up the dam. – Sapa